


Unit Unity

by Faraday14



Category: Motherland: Fort Salem (TV)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Missing Scene, Road Trip, mfsweek
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-06-24
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:41:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24890983
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Faraday14/pseuds/Faraday14
Summary: Missing scene from World Spins Madly On, but it works as a standalone I think.Before they start War College the unit gets a month to visit family, but they can't bring themselves to separate. The only solution is to travel together. The time allows them to start healing from all the trauma.
Relationships: Abigail Bellweather & Raelle Collar & Tally Craven
Kudos: 36





	Unit Unity

**Author's Note:**

> Another last minute addition, but that's my work schedule. There was also a couple of Moscow Mules involved in the writing of this story, you've been warned. 
> 
> Hope you enjoy

The Bellweather estate was daunting. Raelle was sure it would be no matter what, but this was the site of so much trauma for all of them. She had been surprised when Abigail insisted to her mother that she would be fine returning to their home. At first she assumed that is was Abigail being a Bellweather, ignoring anything that might make her seem weak. Then the night before they left Fort Salem she revealed it was because she felt that she needed to face that place, to walk through the room Charvel took her last breaths so that she could finally move on from it. But the only way she could was with her sisters. They had already agreed to spend the month before War College together, that after being separated they needed to have some unit unity thing, but this determined where they would go first.

Petra played the part of host well, but Raelle could tell that the General wasn’t fond of the entire unit crashing her home. A part of her could forgive the woman, they were reducing the amount of one on one time she had with her daughter, he daughter that had been reported MIA. Her daughter whose funeral she attended weeks prior. But she needed to understand that after everything they all had been through, they were a packaged deal.

When they arrived Abigail gave them a proper tour. The house was enormous. Raelle was certain that she would get lost. The way that Tally looked at her made it clear the redhead had a similar fear. When they walked the back yard Raelle could feel her own demons making their presence known. She fought it back and smiled like the wasn’t hearing ‘No matter what happens, I love you,’ on repeat. Neither Tally nor Abigail looked like they bought her smile, but they didn’t say anything. It was only the first night after all.

It was on the fourth morning when Tally woke Raelle up, concerned that Abigail was not sleeping in her bed. Raelle turned a bleary eye towards the clock and was moderately confident it was before five in the morning. With a yawn Raelle forced herself out of bed to search for her missing sister. They didn’t have to speak to know where they were going. The door was cracked open and Raelle was glad they wouldn’t have to force their way in. They found Abigail cross-legged on the floor, staring blankly at the attached bathroom.

Raelle let Tally make the first approach. She watched as the redhead moved up to her despondent sister and sat gently next to her but not quite touching. Raelle followed suit and sat on the other side, willing comfort from her presence. They sat in silence for some time, sunlight began to sneak into the room when Abigail finally let her words out.

“I can’t stop wondering if I had just stayed in the room with her if things would have ended differently. She was going just wanted to soak her feet. She looked so beautiful in her dress and they…I found her in the tub with her…if I had just stayed.”

Raelle slowly moved her hand onto Abigail’s shoulder, “You are never going to know what could have been. Questioning it is normal. But…letting it eat you up is only going to hurt you.”

“So how do I make it stop?” Abigail asked in a whisper.

Raelle didn’t have an answer for that. How do you stop your own mind from hurting you? Thankfully they had Tally, “By accepting the painful reality that you weren’t with her. The Camarilla targeted your family. We still don’t know why, but they did. They did something horrible that you couldn’t stop, but you are still here. You have the chance to stop them the next time.”

“And we will be here for you, for anything you need,” Raelle added with complete sincerity.

Abigail nodded, but didn’t say anything more. Her gaze was locked on the bedroom until the sun had fully risen and the rest of the house awoke. She tilted her chin up and relaxed her shoulders, “Goodbye Charvel.”

The last night at the Bellweather estate had been full of laughter. Petra had to return to Fort Salem and the girls made full use of the wine cellar. Abigail began sharing stories of her youth, of the night she barely avoided being caught by her mother and father at the time sneaking in through the wrong window after spending the night with a High Atlantic boy. It turned into Tally demanding they share stories of their experiences before basic. Raelle had hoped that after the bubbly girl got her shiny mark she would stop being so interested in her unit’s sex lives. No such luck.

“Come on Raelle, you know about my first time and Abigail shared hers!”

The blonde looked to Abigail for help but was met with pointed look, “I had to share, it’s only fair.”

“I hate both of you.”

“That’s a lie,” Tally dismissed. “Now, who was she and how did it happen?”

Raelle waited a moment, maybe the earth would swallow her up before she had this talk with her unit. They were close, but some mystery was healthy. “Her name was Sasha. We went to school together. It wasn’t anything…serious. We liked each other and it wasn’t like there were a lot of options where we lived in the Cession. We were coming back from playing lacrosse and she was taunting me for a bad play I made. She wouldn’t shut up, so I shut her up. One thing led to another.”

“That’s it?” Tally pouted.

“Not everything is an epic romance, Tal,” Raelle laughed.

“But it should be. Wouldn’t it be so much better if everything was an epic romance?”

“Sounds exhausting to me,” Abigail told them while pouring more wine.

The brunette and the redhead passed out not long after, soft snores filled the room. Raelle watched them for a few minutes before getting to her feet. The world rocked back and forth, but she put one foot in front of the other. She found herself outside, staring at the gazebo that had once been a dance floor. So many nights she wished that she could return to that moment, return to that dance. She would give anything to go back, to be wrapped in warm arms swaying to music made just for them and stay there forever. She had so many of her own what-ifs and she tried to take her own advice, but some nights it was too hard. Some nights it was easier to wish she was still oblivious.

They visited Edwin next. He greeted them at the bud depot with tears in his eyes. Raelle dropped her duffel bag and barreled into her father. He had visited her after her return from death, but hadn’t been able to stay more than a day. Tally and Abigail hung back, letting the father and daughter reconnect. When they broke apart he moved to hug Abigail and then Tally, “Thank you for taking care of my girl.”

After they settled into Raelle’s childhood room Edwin called them to dinner. He grilled them steak and insisted it was marinated in a family recipe while Raelle countered it was A1 marinated in zesty Italian dressing. Either way it was delicious. When they finished he said he had something special planned for desert, Raelle’s favorite. Upon hearing that the blonde’s eyes lit up. She practically ran out of the house to the back yard, calling for Tally and Abigail to follow. A fire was waiting for them, with marshmallows chocolate and graham crackers.

Edwin had to work during the day so Raelle took her sisters around her country home. She showed them the school she attended with mostly Civilian classmates, the field she learned to play lacrosse in, the park where she launched herself from the swing and fell on her face in broken glass. She told them how her mom was deployed and by the time she returned the scar was permanent. Raelle boasted that she had not cried while they stitched her up.

When Edwin got home at night he cooked for them and regaled them with every embarrassing story he could remember about his daughter. Abigail nearly passed out laughing when he recounted the dinner, in a restaurant with friends and family, where a four-year-old Raelle loudly proclaimed “Awe man, I wet my pants.”

“Thanks for that,” she told him with a groan. She had no doubt that Abigail would bring that story up at the most opportune times.

On the final night they decided to sleep under the stars. Raelle felt lighter than she had in a long time. Her mother’s presence was still all over the house, it always would be, but it didn’t hurt like it had before she took the oath. It was no longer a ghost haunting her. Being able to share her home with her sisters had reminded her of just how many good memories she had. It showed her how much her attitude affected her father and she felt guilty for making things even more difficult for him. She vowed to make it up to him, or at least to be more aware so she didn’t do it again.

Tally’s mother looked nervous as they exited the plane. Raelle supposed that made sense, Tally was a wreck as well. They had not seen each other since she left for Fort Salem, had only spoken on the phone a handful of times during basic and just once after life as a Biddy.

When the mother and daughter embraced it started awkward, like they didn’t know where they stood with each other. The longer it lasted the more they melted into each other and by the time they parted they were crying. Tally waved Raelle and Abigail over and introduced them like this was one of the biggest moments of her life. It warmed Raelle’s heart.

She didn’t know what to expect from a Matrifocal Allotment. Well, okay she expected something on the weird side. As the car they were in drove further into the compound Raelle decided it was a little like being at Fort Salem, in that there were only women around. However, that really was where the similarities ended. Where Fort Salem was rigid and disciplined the grounds of Northern California were fluid and natural.

After spending the first few days at the allotment Raelle realized that there was as little to do as there had been in the Cession. Less even. Everyone seemed happy to tend their gardens and talk. Raelle was feeling talked out. She was feely antsy but didn’t want to drag Tally away from her mother when they were reconciling. Thankfully Tally was always so good at reading her and suggested that they take a day trip to the Bay Area. Despite growing up just a couple hours away she had not spent much time there either and was excited for something new.

The ocean air was much cooler than it had been at the allotment and they had to spend way too much money on souvenir jackets before trekking across the Golden Gate Bridge, Tally insisted they walked. It had been beautiful, but then they reached the other side and realized they would have to walk back as well. At least they were staying in shape.

Abigail insisted that they visit Alcatraz, it had been a prison for witches during the early 1900s. Raelle had found the macabre building and stories fascinating. The trio ate lunch at a Thai restaurant in the Castro and debated whether they felt up for one more site before heading back. Some friends of Tally’s had insisted Ocean Beach was a must, but Raelle was relieved when neither of her unit-mates suggested it. Eventually they decided it was best to head back, it would be dark soon and they were not familiar with the roads.

Abigail drove while Tally navigated and for a moment Raelle imagined they were no different than Civilians. That they were on summer break and the worst that was ahead of them was essays and tests. She leaned forward so her head was in the front seat, “Thank you. I really needed this past month.”

“Me too,” Abigail said sincerely. “I’m glad we were forced together.”

Tally smacked her arm, “We weren’t forced, it was meant to be.”

“Don’t you think that’s a little much, Tal?” Raelle teased.

“Not at all,” Tally shook her head. “Can you imagine going through basic with anyone else? We’re special.” Tally paused for a moment, “I know that I don’t talk a lot about my time with Alder. When I realized that she was going to die I didn’t even think. Despite all of the horrible things that Alder had done, I still believe in the cause. I couldn’t let her die. If she died then, it would have devastated not just our army but our country. I don’t regret it. But I am so glad that I didn’t have to stay a Biddy. There is so much life I want to live, so much that I want to see with my sisters. War College is the start of all of our second chances, and I intend to make the most of mine.”

Raelle put her chin on the redheads shoulder, “Still don’t know if I believe we are meant to be, but I wouldn’t trade you two for decent people.”


End file.
